Paris: The Song of a Great City
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Paris: The Song of a Great City (full title: Paris, A Night Piece - The Song of a Great City) is a nocturne for orchestra composed by Frederick Delius over the period of 1899-1900. Hans Haym, to whom Delius dedicated the work, conducted the premiere on 14 December 1901 in Eberfeld, Germany.[1] [2] Sir Thomas Beecham conducted the UK premiere of the work in Liverpool on 11 January 1908. The critical edition of the score, published in the late 1980's, incorporated revisions by Beecham, and included editorial work from Eric Fenby and Norman Del Mar.[3]
Whilst the work drew upon Delius' own memories of his residence in Paris, the work is not a literal depiction, but more "impressionist" in nature. Philip Heseltine noted this quality as follows:
"For Delius, Paris is not merely a city of France, whose collective life is something to be studied objectively, from a place apart, much as an entomologist studies an ants' nest; it is a corner of his own soul.[4]
A slow oboe melody opens and closes the work, which is punctuated in between by several street cries. Byron Adams has noted the stylistic influence of Richard Strauss in the work.[2]
Anthony Payne gave a mixed characterisation of Paris, noting that it "closes the early period and foreshadows the next in passages of contemplative beauty" and was Delius' "finest work" up to that time, but also saying that it lacked "the intense personal involvement of his great work".[5] By contrast, Hubert Foss has characterised this work as "the first of the later masterpieces" of Delius.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Carley, Lionel (January 1973). "Hans Haym: Delius's Prophet and Pioneer". Music & Letters 54 (1): 1–24. doi:.
- ^ a b Adams, Byron (June 1990). "Music Reviews: Paris: A Nocturne (The Song of a Great City) (ed. Beecham)". Notes (2nd Ser.) 46 (4): 1063–1065. doi:.
- ^ Jones, Philip (May 1990). "Reviews of Music: Songs of Sunset; Paris: A Nocturne (The Song of a Great City); In a Summer Garden". Music & Letters 71 (2): 285–286.
- ^ Heseltine, Philip (March 1, 1915). "Some Notes on Delius and His Music". The Musical Times 56 (865): 137–142. doi:.
- ^ Payne, Anthony (Winter 1961-1962). "Delius's Stylistic Development". Tempo (New Ser.) (60): 6–16, 23–25.
- ^ Foss, Hubert (Winter 1952-1953). "The Instrumental Music of Frederick Delius". Tempo (New Ser.) (26): 30–37.
[edit] External links
[edit] Sources
- David Ewen, Encyclopedia of Concert Music. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.
